Conventionally, in a lithography process for manufacturing electronic devices (micro devices) such as liquid crystal display devices and semiconductor devices (integrated circuits and the like), exposure apparatuses such as an exposure apparatus of a step-and-scan method (a so-called scanning stepper (which is also called a scanner)) that, while synchronously moving a mask or a reticle (hereinafter, generically referred to as a “mask”) and a glass plate or a wafer (hereinafter, generically referred to as a “substrate”) in a predetermined scanning direction, transfers a pattern formed on the mask onto the substrate using an energy beam, are used.
As this type of exposure apparatuses, the exposure apparatus is known, in which a glass substrate that has been exposed on a substrate stage device is carried out using a substrate exchange device, and then another glass substrate is carried onto the substrate stage device using the substrate exchange device, and thereby the glass substrate held by the substrate stage device is sequentially exchanged and exposure processing is performed with respect to a plurality of glass substrates in order (e.g., refer to PTL 1).
Here, in the case of exposing a plurality of glass substrates, it is preferable to exchange swiftly the glass substrate on the substrate stage device also for improvement in overall throughput.